Year A
Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I struggle\u2026 I struggle making some decisions\u2026 even though my Myers Briggs personality test indicates that I can make decisions quickly… I’m an INFJ\u2026 my human mind interprets data\u2026 too often out of context\u2026 far too often without all of the information or the whole picture\u2026 jumping to conclusions\u2026 but remaining steadfastly confident or maybe even certain\u2026 that its interpretations are correct\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I struggle making some decisions\u2026 because I live in a culture\u2026 and within a society\u2026 which expects clarity\u2026 in almost all things\u2026 which equates certainty with strong leadership\u2026 and where options considered too carefully may be considered a weakness\u2026 and where waffling is a highway to failure\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I struggle\u2026 because some forks in the road don’t seem to offer win \/ win outcomes\u2026 or even win \/ lose outcomes\u2026 but only what seem to be lose \/ lose outcomes\u2026 I struggle because I can often see both sides of a situation\u2026 like in the song Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell\u2026 I struggle because in the language of Ignatian spirituality\u2026 some things which would clearly seem to provide consolation\u2026 might in the long run cause desolation\u2026 and those things which at first glance would seem to provide desolation\u2026 might also in the long run\u2026 be deeply consoling\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example\u2026 during my middle year of seminary\u2026 when I began my period of Field Education\u2026 my clergy supervisor asked me what kind of project I wanted to do\u2026 and I blurted out almost without thinking\u2026 Well\u2026 nothing in a prison<\/em>\u2026 and so of course\u2026 that’s just exactly what I did\u2026 I designed a six week course in the basics of Family Systems Theory\u2026 and presented it to a group of twenty-two inmates at the Marion Correctional Institution\u2026 a medium-security prison in Marion, Ohio\u2026 and what started out as something which I felt certain would cause desolation\u2026 or even bodily harm\u2026 ended up being consoling\u2026 not only to me\u2026 but to those twenty-two men\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our passage from Genesis\u2026 we meet Jacob as he is fleeing for his life\u2026 only to encounter God\u2026 the name given to him at birth\u2026 means\u2026 he takes by the heel\u2026<\/em> simply put\u2026 Jacob is a heel\u2026 a grabby\u2026 despicable\u2026 and unscrupulous cheat\u2026 ] we’ve already heard how he exploited his brother\u2019s hunger… and he will conspire to defraud his brother of his rightful blessing\u2026 because he replaces familial love and duty\u2026 with greed\u2026 and so the place where we meet him this morning\u2026 has more to do with his figurative situation\u2026 than with geography\u2026 though he is certainly\u2026 in a bad place<\/em>\u2026 a fugitive from his own injustice and the vengeful fury of his own twin\u2026 we find Jacob in all his corrupted humanity\u2026 and we must be gracious with his more primitive theology\u2026 because at this stage of his community’s life\u2026 before his encounter with YHWH\u2026 Jacob held the common ancient belief\u2026 that gods lived in stones<\/em>\u2026 something Paul later rejects\u2026 and throughout the Jewish scriptures\u2026 there are at least sixteen references to the special treatment given to stones\u2026 by God’s people\u2026 that’s why Jacob erected his pillow\u2026 into a pillar\u2026 and anointed it with oil\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n I mentioned Ignatian spirituality a few moments ago\u2026 and to help us choose something which in the end will be consoling\u2026 and to avoid choosing something which in the end will cause desolation\u2026 we must discern carefully\u2026 slowly\u2026 thoroughly\u2026 sometimes over weeks\u2026 or months\u2026 and depending on the decision we need to make\u2026 over years\u2026 and often at odds with a structure which equates speed with efficiency\u2026 certainty with power\u2026 and domination with legitimacy\u2026 qualities wholly at odds with Jesus’ patience\u2026 his asking others what they needed or wanted\u2026 and a consistent deference to God’s will being done\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And as we move towards today’s Gospel\u2026 we ought not be surprised then\u2026 that there are weeds among the wheat\u2026 weeds which are sown by the powers of the world\u2026 by the power of Empire which is almost wholly in opposition to God’s kingdom\u2026 because the field in which these weeds are sown\u2026 is our world\u2026 our culture and society\u2026 our political sphere\u2026 and yes\u2026 even though the Word of God takes root in the imperfect field of our communities\u2026 in our churches and congregations\u2026 ] some of which are being choked out by the culture wars in which we are embroiled\u2026 with questions about who’s sowing what\u2026 and we wonder not only how to name them\u2026 but more importantly\u2026 how will we continue to grow alongside them\u2026 ] and who do we trust more than God\u2026 to determine what’s wheat and what’s weeds\u2026 and so let’s not be too hasty to fix what seems to be wrong\u2026 because the truth is\u2026 we don’t always know what’s of God and what’s not\u2026 because justice and injustice exist together all the time\u2026 so what we must ask is whether we’re as patient as God is\u2026 and whether we’re willing to play the long game\u2026 because the church is not the best place to make quick changes in society\u2026 ] in the work of justice\u2026 the church has been late to the party in sometimes catastrophic ways\u2026 it’s not built for rapid change\u2026 because part of rapid change\u2026 is the false division between who’s in and who’s out\u2026 and because\u2026 if we’re wrong\u2026 we run the risk of uprooting the vulnerable and marginalized\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And like the four kinds of soil inside each one of us\u2026 there are weeds among our wheat\u2026 weeds among the good fruit we bear… weeds which might\u2026 in any given moment incite us to think unkind thoughts about our neighbors or ourselves\u2026 or to commit some evil\u2026 like Jacob did\u2026 weeds which might feed our hypocrisy\u2026 because the weeds sown by the powers opposed to God are everywhere\u2026 and while the world might direct us to deny our weeds\u2026 or pluck them out and hide them\u2026 God’s kingdom is different\u2026 Jesus is patient\u2026 and there is room for redemption\u2026 and God is willing to let all the weeds grow\u2026 rather than risk uprooting a single stalk of wheat\u2026 because maybe our weeds are the mistakes we make\u2026 without which\u2026 along with our free will\u2026 we could not grow\u2026 maybe the weeds are the regrets we bear\u2026 without which\u2026 along with our free will\u2026 we could not bear any fruit\u2026 and so to tear them out\u2026 would be to tear out those things which make us\u2026 us\u2026 when the harvest comes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Natalie Wigg-Stevenson\u2026 who teaches at Emmanuel College in Toronto\u2026 writes\u2026 Martin Luther argued that we are simultaneously saint and sinner\u2026 and so this parable is more a welcome promise\u2026 than a dire warning\u2026 a promise that God\u2019s refining fire\u2026 won’t burn us away\u2026 but will simply burn away all our sin\u2026 so we can be fully in God\u2019s presence\u2026 at the last\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So how will this parable grow within us\u2026 and as we understand it more and more\u2026 we will also realize that we still have so much to learn\u2026 and as we do\u2026 we will be able to let go of Empire’s grasp and its expectations\u2026 and embrace God’s patience\u2026 discernment\u2026 and will\u2026 and the freedoms they bring\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Genesis 28:10-19a Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23 Romans 8:12-25 Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 I struggle\u2026 I struggle making some decisions\u2026 even though my Myers Briggs personality test indicates that I can make decisions quickly… I’m an INFJ\u2026 my human mind interprets data\u2026 too often out of context\u2026 far too often without all of the information or the whole picture\u2026 jumping to conclusions\u2026 but remaining steadfastly confident or maybe even certain\u2026 that its interpretations are correct\u2026 I struggle making some decisions\u2026 because I live in a culture\u2026 and within a society\u2026 which expects clarity\u2026 in almost all things\u2026 which equates certainty with strong leadership\u2026 and where options considered too carefully may be considered a weakness\u2026 and where waffling is a highway to failure\u2026 I struggle\u2026 because some forks in the road don’t seem to offer win \/ win outcomes\u2026 or even win \/ lose outcomes\u2026 but only what seem to be lose \/ lose outcomes\u2026 I struggle because I can often see both sides of a situation\u2026 like in the song Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell\u2026 I struggle because in the language of Ignatian spirituality\u2026 some things which would clearly seem to provide consolation\u2026 might in the long run cause desolation\u2026 and those things which at first glance would seem to provide desolation\u2026 might also in the long run\u2026 be deeply consoling\u2026 For example\u2026 during my middle year of seminary\u2026 when I began my period of Field Education\u2026 my clergy supervisor asked me what kind of project I wanted to do\u2026 and I blurted out almost without thinking\u2026 Well\u2026 nothing in a prison\u2026 and so of course\u2026 that’s just exactly what I did\u2026 I designed a six week course in the basics of Family Systems Theory\u2026 and presented it to a group of twenty-two inmates at the Marion Correctional Institution\u2026 a medium-security prison in Marion, Ohio\u2026 and what started out as something which I felt certain would cause desolation\u2026 or even bodily harm\u2026 ended up being consoling\u2026 not only to me\u2026 but to those twenty-two men\u2026 In our passage from Genesis\u2026 we meet Jacob as he is fleeing for his life\u2026 only to encounter God\u2026 the name given to him at birth\u2026 means\u2026 he takes by the heel\u2026 simply put\u2026 Jacob is a heel\u2026 a grabby\u2026 despicable\u2026 and unscrupulous cheat\u2026 ] we’ve already heard how he exploited his brother\u2019s hunger… and he will conspire to defraud his brother of his rightful blessing\u2026 because he replaces familial love and duty\u2026 with greed\u2026 and so the place where we meet him this morning\u2026 has more to do with his figurative situation\u2026 than with geography\u2026 though he is certainly\u2026 in a bad place\u2026 a fugitive from his own injustice and the vengeful fury of his own twin\u2026 we find Jacob in all his corrupted humanity\u2026 and we must be gracious with his more primitive theology\u2026 because at this stage of his community’s life\u2026 before his encounter with YHWH\u2026 Jacob held the common ancient belief\u2026 that gods lived in stones\u2026 something Paul later rejects\u2026 and throughout the Jewish scriptures\u2026 there are at least sixteen references to the special treatment given to stones\u2026 by God’s people\u2026 that’s why Jacob erected his pillow\u2026 into a pillar\u2026 and anointed it with oil\u2026 I mentioned Ignatian spirituality a few moments ago\u2026 and to help us choose something which in the end will be consoling\u2026 and to avoid choosing something which in the end will cause desolation\u2026 we must discern carefully\u2026 slowly\u2026 thoroughly\u2026 sometimes over weeks\u2026 or months\u2026 and depending on the decision we need to make\u2026 over years\u2026 and often at odds with a structure which equates speed with efficiency\u2026 certainty with power\u2026 and domination with legitimacy\u2026 qualities wholly at odds with Jesus’ patience\u2026 his asking others what they needed or wanted\u2026 and a consistent deference to God’s will being done\u2026 And as we move towards today’s Gospel\u2026 we ought not be surprised then\u2026 that there are weeds among the wheat\u2026 weeds which are sown by the powers of the world\u2026 by the power of Empire which is almost wholly in opposition to God’s kingdom\u2026 because the field in which these weeds are sown\u2026 is our world\u2026 our culture and society\u2026 our political sphere\u2026 and yes\u2026 even though the Word of God takes root in the imperfect field of our communities\u2026 in our churches and congregations\u2026 ] some of which are being choked out by the culture wars in which we are embroiled\u2026 with questions about who’s sowing what\u2026 and we wonder not only how to name them\u2026 but more importantly\u2026 how will we continue to grow alongside them\u2026 ] and who do we trust more than God\u2026 to determine what’s wheat and what’s weeds\u2026 and so let’s not be too hasty to fix what seems to be wrong\u2026 because the truth is\u2026 we don’t always know what’s of God and what’s not\u2026 because justice and injustice exist together all the time\u2026 so what we must ask is whether we’re as patient as God is\u2026 and whether we’re willing to play the long game\u2026 because the church is not the best place to make quick changes in society\u2026 ] in the work of justice\u2026 the church has been late to the party in sometimes catastrophic ways\u2026 it’s not built for rapid change\u2026 because part of rapid change\u2026 is the false division between who’s in and who’s out\u2026 and because\u2026 if we’re wrong\u2026 we run the risk of uprooting the vulnerable and marginalized\u2026 And like the four kinds of soil inside each one of us\u2026 there are weeds among our wheat\u2026 weeds among the good fruit we bear… weeds which might\u2026 in any given moment incite us to think unkind thoughts about our neighbors or ourselves\u2026 or to commit some evil\u2026 like Jacob did\u2026 weeds which might feed our hypocrisy\u2026 because the weeds sown by the powers opposed to God are everywhere\u2026 and while the world might direct us to deny our weeds\u2026 or pluck them out and hide 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